Pope Francis emphasised that there are correct and incorrect ways of living with pain and suffering

by VIS | Source: VIS

Vatican City, 17 May 2014

This morning the Holy Father received in audience the Silent Workers of the Cross
Association – Volunteer Centres of Suffering, on their pilgrimage to Rome to commemorate the
centenary of the birth of their founder, Blessed Luigi Novarese. Pope Francis began by recalling one
of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted”, and commented that
“with this prophetic word Jesus referred to a condition of earthly life that no-one fails to
experience”.

“There are those who mourn because they are in ill-health; there are
those who weep because they are alone or misunderstood. There are many reasons for suffering. Jesus
experienced affliction and humiliation in this world. He gathered together human sufferings, He took
them on in His flesh, He lived them in full, one by one. He knew every type of affliction, both
moral and physical. … He experienced hunger and fatigue, the bitterness of being misunderstood, He
was betrayed and abandoned, flogged and crucified. But in declaring 'blessed those who mourn', Jesus
did not intend to declare happy an unfavourable or onerous condition of life. Suffering is not a
value itself, but rather a reality that Jesus teaches us to approach with the right
attitude”.

Pope Francis emphasised that there are correct and incorrect ways of
living with pain and suffering. “The wrong attitude is that of living pain in a passive way,
allowing oneself to be overcome by inertia, and resignation. The reaction of rebellion and denial,
too, is not the right approach. Jesus teaches us to experience pain, accepting the reality of life
with trust and hope, loving God and neighbour even in suffering: love transforms everything”. He
remarked that this is exactly what Blessed Luigi Novarese taught, in “educating the sick and
disabled to bring meaning to their suffering as part of an apostolic action carried out with faith
and love for others”, and added that with this charism they are “a gift for the Church. … united
with

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